


Wish for Freedom

by PatchworkIdeas



Series: WinterFRE 2020 [2]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Not Related, Disability, Fluff, Genie!Fili, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Now with an amazing Podfic read by the brilliant Dragonsquill!, Overcoming Obstacles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22321513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PatchworkIdeas/pseuds/PatchworkIdeas
Summary: Everything has its price.
Relationships: Fíli/Kíli (Tolkien)
Series: WinterFRE 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1604650
Comments: 19
Kudos: 37
Collections: GatheringFiKi - Winter FRE 2020





	Wish for Freedom

**Author's Note:**

> Written for WinterFRE 2020.  
> Prompts at the end to prevent spoilers.
> 
> Now with a wonderful podfic made by the amazing, perfect, and lovely [Dragonsquill](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonsquill/pseuds/Dragonsquill)!  
> Thank you so, so much!!! _*glomps and squeals and twirls and is dizzy with joy*_
> 
> You can find it [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22890844)!  
> It's awesome - go give it a listen and shower her in some well deserved love!

Kili swallowed, the words heavy on his tongue.

"Don't you want to be free?"

His genie, his savior, the first being who had actually seen him for himself and not as the shadow of someone he never wanted to be.  
His first friend, he would like to think.  
His genie looked at him for a long, long moment, before closing his eyes and answering with a tremble in his voice: "It would not be what's best for you. I live to serve, and my freedom would not serve you well."  
Kili swallowed, but pressed on; his friend deserved better, better than to be a slave used for his powers. 

Kili had everything he needed and wanted: a beautiful home of his own - away from all who would harm him or try to shape him - and a steady income of both food and gold from the acres of land that now gave work to hundreds who had starved before. 

He had deliberated a long time on what to wish for. 

As a former prince, maybe he should have used his wishes to better the life of his people, but... Kili wasn't meant for ruling, had seen what it made out of his uncle.  
The people were not happy, and no amount of wishes would change that, except perhaps the one he could not consider, as harsh as his uncle had become.

Even if he somehow took the throne without bloodshed - he did not have the will to survive in the cutthroat arena of politics; didn't fancy how it would change him.  
And he doubted anyone could save the country from the ruin brought on by countless selfish rulers.  
The people would rise up - most likely in his lifetime - the streets would run with blood, and maybe, just maybe, something better could rise up from the ashes.

He would only have prolonged the suffering.

It was not an easy decision to come to, to decide to wish himself away from the certain ruin awaiting and to find a way of life where he could both help others and live well himself.  
It had taken years of careful consideration.  
Years of getting to know the kind-hearted genie before him, just as chained to a destiny with no happy ending as Kili himself had been.

Fili had saved him, and Kili had every intention of returning the favour.

And if maybe, just maybe, Fili would decide to stay, to live with him here, happy, then that was more than any other wish could give him. 

But it had to be Fili's choice.

"That isn't what I asked, and you know it. Forget me for a moment, forget your duty. What do _you_ want? I know I want to free you, like you have freed me. I want to make you _happy_."  
The words were familiar, for Fili had, against everything any legend ever warned him off, tried to help him - even if only with good advice, a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on or by making him laugh when there was precious little to laugh about.  
He had been a friend.  
A true friend.  
And Kili was determined to return that, by giving his friend the one thing only he could give Fili - his freedom. 

Seeing the determination in Kili's eyes, Fili sighed, a sound both mournful and wistful, and finally seemed to accepted that Kili would not relent this time.  
The genie had tried to convince him before, that they could just live together, no third wish ever made, and Kili could set him free when he was old and grey and not long for the world anymore. Fili had assured him staying would be no hardship. 

They both knew it wouldn't work.

The only reason nobody had stolen Fili away from Kili yet was because nobody knew of him. Considering his obvious luck from coming in and suddenly having the perfect life, it was only a matter of time until Fili would be gone now.  
Caught yet again in endless years of cruel servitude with no chance of salvation. 

If Kili didn't free him now he would lose Fili for certain.  
At least this way there was chance. A chance for happiness for them both. 

And finally Fili seemed to come to the same conclusion.  
His shoulders squared, and he looked imposing, almost cold, in a way he hadn't since they first met all those years ago. The genie tilted his head and presented his wrists, bound by a golden chain so fine, it might have been just a shimmering thread. 

“If you set me free, you will never see me again.”

And Kili wasn't sure if it was a final attempt to change his mind or if this was the cost, the sure unhappiness it would bring Kili that Fili had kept alluding to whenever the topic arose.  
Maybe the magic would rip them apart.  
He thought Fili would have liked to stay, if given the choice.  
Maybe he was wrong.  
Either way, Fili would leave.  
The only decision was whether he left as a slave or a free man. 

Kili looked Fili in the eyes, one last time. For a split second, he wanted nothing more than to let himself drown in Fili's presence, look at him for hours, hear him laugh just one last time, just one more day, just one more night. Just one kiss, that he always longed for but was not willing to steal from a being that could not say no. 

(It would never be now.) 

Kili made his wish.  
And his world went dark. 

-

Kili navigated the steep steps of the hill, his cane sweeping before him, never still.  
It had taken him embarrassingly long to relearn how to walk up and down the 50 steps to his home up on the hill.  
If he had known about this before hand, he probably wouldn't have described a house that could look out over all his lands.  
Lot of good it did him now. Just steps and steps and yet more steps.  
"Be careful what you wish for", everyone knew that old warning. There was not a single time it did not make him laugh. He had been oh, so careful, but wishes were funny things. 

The house itself was easier, if only because they kept it meticulously clean.  
Everything had its place, everything had to be _in_ its place and Kili had mapped out every inch with his fingertips.  
There were still so many things he had wanted to do that were all but impossible for him now.  
But he had beaten impossible odds before - and he was doing it now and would do it again in the future. 

Finally reaching the last step he made his way up the walkway to his home, the hand holding his full basket held high in both greeting and request to be left alone for just a bit longer.  
He wanted to do it on his own.  
All of it.  
He knew he had help if he required it, but today it was neither wanted nor needed. 

He heard the soft steps beside him, the calm breath, knew his friend was deliberately keeping far enough not to crowd him, not to get in his way, but there for this triumph all the same. 

Kili stepped onto the porch, put down the basket on the table beside the door and left his cane in its place.  
He pulled out the keys from his pocket, felt out the right one, fiddled with the lock until it slipped in, and unlocked his front door.  
There was no need to lock it, especially not for this trip, but he wanted to do it right, wanted to prove to himself he could do it all. 

He stepped to the side, placed the keys on their hook, grabbed the basket from outside and closed the door with the other hand.  
There was another cane just to the right, one of several inside the house, but he didn't need it anymore. 

5 steps forward. Left. 8 steps. Another left. 3 steps.  
Kitchen counter just in front of him, kitchen isle to the left, stove and water to the right.  
He felt the sun through the giant window, warming the wood under his hands and making him all too aware of the sweat running down his skin. 

He knew he hadn't needed to pick the grapes himself - he had plenty of well paid workers for that - and was unlikely to have picked the good ones either.  
But he had survived the way down, made his ways through the rows, picked the sweet grapes until his handbasket was full - snacking on a few on the way, tiny rewards to keep him going - found his way back out, up the endless stairs, into the house, and into the kitchen. 

He hadn't slipped.  
He hadn't needed a hand.  
He had done it all on his own. 

Kili closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let the laughter spill from his lips, loud and heady and joyful. He turned around, opened his arms wide, and let Fili crash into him, kissing him through the laughter, murmured words of awe and praise between each kiss. 

Fili had been so certain, in the beginning, that the cost would destroy Kili.  
That he would hate the former genie for taking his eyesight from him; even though the blame clearly laid with the monster who had cursed him in the first place. 

Centuries before Fili had looked upon a sorcerer, seen something he should not have seen, and then escaped before they could take his sight from him in punishment and warning. When he was caught, years later - after leading them on a merry chase, getting in their way and trying to stop them at every turn - the sorcerer had bound him, made him a genie, forced to help all kinds of evil people do whatever they wished.  
The only way to free him from the curse was to take his original punishment.

Kili was the only person who had ever thought to free him.  
His only chance.  
But he was also the only person Fili hadn't wished his punishment on, as much as he longed for freedom. 

Kili didn't regret it.  
Didn't regret any of his wishes (ridiculous amount of steps not withstanding) because he had made them carefully and he knew what was important to him. 

"Are you happy?" Kili murmured into Fili's ear that evening, like he did every day since he made his wish.  
And always Fili kissed him, like a dying man who found his salvation. "Yes," Fili breathed onto his skin, raising goosebumps all over Kili's body, "I'm very happy where I am. Right here, with you."  
And Kili smiled, enjoyed the loving attention and gave his own, exploring by now familiar skin with ever curious fingers. 

Yes, despite the cost, his last wish had been the best of all.

**Author's Note:**

> [My Tumblr](https://patchworkideas.tumblr.com/post/190349086830/wish-for-freedom-patchworkideas-the-hobbit)
> 
> Written for
> 
> Prompt Nr.1:  
> The genie tilted his head and presented his wrists, bound by a golden chain so fine, it might have been just a shimmering thread. “If you set me free, you will never see me again.”
> 
> And
> 
> Prompt Nr.15:  
> One of the pair has a disability (they were either born with it or became disabled through injury).

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] Wish for Freedom](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22890844) by [Dragonsquill (dragonsquill)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonsquill/pseuds/Dragonsquill)




End file.
